r/excel rules, stats, and what to post

This is a community of Excel enthusiasts who share tips, ask questions, and talk about all things Excel, and the description also leaves the door open for other spreadsheet software. The people posting here are mostly users who want help with a spreadsheet problem and experienced folks who enjoy solving it. The rules make the shape of the place clear. Questions get posted as text posts and get marked solved when the asker replies solution verified. Anything only loosely connected to Excel has to be a text post that gives the community a real discussion about Excel, how it is implemented, or a spreadsheet alternative. Learning questions are pointed to the wiki instead of the feed, so the main feed stays for actual spreadsheet problems and discussion.

Start with “No link or image posts. Text posts only.”, because this is the rule most marketers break on day one, and the AutoModerator removes link, image, and video posts automatically. Then “Posts must be related to MS Excel or other spreadsheet software”, which says anything with an indirect relationship to Excel must be a text or self post and must provide meaningful discussion of Excel, its implementation, or a viable alternative. “Follow Reddit rules for self-promotion and spam” sets a clear number, ten percent or less of your posting and conversation should link to your own content. “No AI slop or lazy “just use AI” advice” means you cannot paste untested AI output, and you cannot drop substance free comments telling people to just use AI. “No gig or job advertisements” rules out hiring pitches and freelance offers. “Post Titles must follow our Submission Rules” and “Post Content must follow our Submission Rules” both apply, and posts that miss them can be removed at any time by the moderation team. Finally, “Close your post by replying to the answer with “solution verified”” is how you close a question properly once someone helps you.

Post text posts only, and put any image or link inside the text post or in a comment on it, for example through an image hosting site referenced in your post. The safest good post here is a genuine question about a spreadsheet problem you actually have, written with a title that follows the submission rules. If you want to share something you built, frame it as a text post that shows how it works in Excel and invites real discussion about the implementation or about spreadsheet alternatives. If AI helped you build something, test it thoroughly first and show you have tested and agreed with it before you post. When someone answers your question, reply solution verified to them so the bot awards the point and the flair changes to Solved. Keep the ten percent rule in mind, so most of your activity in the community should have nothing to do with your own links.

Do not post a link post, image post, or video post, because those are removed by the AutoModerator and only text posts are allowed. Do not post anything that is only indirectly about Excel unless it is a text post with meaningful discussion of Excel, its implementation, or a viable alternative. Do not ask how to learn Excel or VBA, that belongs in the wiki. Do not post AI generated content you have not tested and agreed with, and do not leave comments that just tell people to use AI. Do not advertise gigs or jobs. Do not break the Reddit self promotion guideline, which means ten percent or less of your posting and conversation should link to your own content. Do not skip flair on non question posts, do not leave insults or offensive content, and do not forget to reply solution verified to whoever solved your question.

The rule that caught my eye is the one on AI slop, because it does not ban AI outright, it bans AI you have not tested and agreed with yourself. That is a fair bar and it tells you exactly what kind of room this is, one where showing your working matters more than sounding polished. I also like that the community built a whole point system around replying solution verified, which tells you people here actually keep score on being helpful. If you build anything near spreadsheets, earn a few points before you ever mention your own work.